Punjab

Faridkot

CC/19/107

Gurchet Singh - Complainant(s)

Versus

ICICI Bank - Opp.Party(s)

Amandeep Singh Parmar

16 Dec 2019

ORDER

 

DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, FARIDKOT

 

Complaint No. :        107 of 2019

Date of Institution :    18.04.2019

Date of Decision :       16.12.2019

Gurchet Singh aged about 39 years son of Kapoor Sing resident of  Guruharsahai Road, Sadiq, District Faridkot.

           .....Complainant

Versus

 

1. ICICI Bank, through its Managing Director having its Registered Office at ICICI Bank Tower, Near Chakli Circle, Old Padra Road, Vododara 3900007.
2. The Branch Manager, ICICI Bank, Branch Faridkot Road, Sadiq, District Faridkot.

.....OPs

Complaint under Section 12 of the

Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

 

Quorum:     Sh Ajit Aggarwal, President,

Sh Param Pal Kaur, Member.

Present:       Sh Amandeep Singh Parmar, Ld Counsel for Complainant,

 Sh Jatinder Bansal, Ld Counsel for OPs.

ORDER

(Ajit Aggarwal, President)

                                        Complainant has filed the present complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against OPs seeking directions to OPs to continue his account and to pay

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Rs.1,00,0000/-as compensation for harassment and mental agony suffered by him besides litigation expenses.

 2                                Briefly stated, the case of the complainant is that complainant is having account bearing no.357101500648 with OPs. It is submitted that he runs an Ola Cab and all the commission, payment and fair from OLA Cab Company is being received by him in his account with OPs and he used the said account for all transactions. Further submitted that few days ago, complainant received intimation from OP-2 Bank that they have closed his aforesaid bank account. He immediately approached OP-2 and enquired about the reason for closing his account and on this, OP-2 told him that they have closed the account of complainant due to doubt that complainant is involved in the business of lottery and gambling. Complainant showed them his all kinds of business proofs to explain them that he is doing business with OLA Cab Company, but they did not hear his genuine requests and used filthy language for complainant. Complainant made several requests to them to re-open his account, but all in vain. He also served upon legal notice to complainant, but OPs did nothing needful. All this amounts to deficiency in service and has caused much harassment and inconvenience to him. He has prayed for heavy compensation and litigation expenses besides main relief. Hence, the present complaint.

3                                       Ld Counsel for complainant was heard with regard to admission of the complaint and vide order dated 24.04.2019,

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complaint was admitted and notice was ordered to be issued to the opposite party.

4                                              On receipt of the notice, OP-1 and 2 filed written reply wherein they admitted before the Forum that he is having saving bank account with them, but as per rules and regulations of Reserve Bank of India, saving account cannot be opened for business purpose. it is denied that complainant is running an OLA cab and moreover, he has not submitted before them any document or agreement regarding his alleged OLA cab. It is averred that saving bank account should be used to route the transactions of only non business or non commercial nature. Complainant never informed them about any payments or his business dealings with Ola Cab Company and bank account of complainant was showing unusual transactions in the pattern of some lottery system and as per directions of RBI, OPs freezed the account of complainant on January 14, 2019 under Transaction Monitoring reasons for Suspected high risk lottery pattern and intimation to this effect was given to complainant vide letter dated 15.01.2019 through speed post. OPs admitted that complainant approached them on 19.03.2019 with request to unfreeze his account and after post verification, officials of OPs asked him to submit documents like copy of RC of vehicle, offer letter from OLA/UBER and agreement between complainant and said company, but complainant did not submit any such document. Moreover, complainant never informed OPs regarding his vehicle on loan and any

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instalments of same are being deducted by him. It is averred that complainant himself is stopped by his own act and conduct to file the present complaint and it is also denied that he has suffered any monitory loss. All the other allegations are denied being wrong and incorrect and it is reiterated that there is no deficiency in service on their part. Prayer for dismissal of complaint is made.

5                                              The ld counsel for complainant tendered in evidence affidavit of complainant  Ex.C-1 and documents Ex C-2 to C-7 and then, closed the evidence.

6                                                         In order to rebut the evidence of the complainant, Counsel for OP-1 and OP-2 tendered in evidence affidavit of Neeraj Kumar Ex. OP-5 and document Ex OP-1 to Ex OP-4 and also closed the evidence.

7                                              We have heard the ld counsel for complainant as well as Ops and have also carefully gone through the evidence and documents placed on record by respective parties.

8                                                         It is observed that case of the complainant is that he is having account with OPs. It is submitted that complainant runs an Ola Cab and all the commission, payment and fare from OLA Cab Company is being received by him in this account and this account is being used by him for making all banking transactions. Grievance of the complainant is that OPs closed his bank account on

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pretext that complainant is involved in any kind of lottery or gambling business. Complainant approached them and requested them to re-open his account in their bank, but bank authorities did not pay any heed to hear his requests. He tried to convince Ops that he is not engaged in any wrong business, rather he is engaged with OLA Cab Company and does transport work and all his earning comes through OLA Cab Complainant in his bank account with them. He also submitted his all kinds of business proofs before them to justify and explain his position that he is doing business with OLA Cab Company, but they did not redress his  grievance. Despite several repeated requests that complainant has been suffering financial loss due to closing of his account and issuance of legal notice to Ops, they did not do anything needful, which amounts to deficiency in service. He has prayed for accepting the present complaint and stressed on documents Ex C-1 to 7. In reply, OPs took plea that complainant never informed them about any payments or his business dealings with Ola Cab Company. Bank account was showing unusual transactions in the pattern of some lottery system and that is why as per instructions of RBI, they freezed the account of complainant on January 14, 2019 under Transaction Monitoring reasons for Suspected high risk lottery pattern and gave intimation regarding freezing of his account to him vide letter dated 15.01.2019. He approached them on 19.03.2019 with request to unfreeze his account and after post verification, he was asked to submit documents like copy of RC of vehicle, offer letter from OLA/UBER and

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agreement between complainant and said company, but complainant did not submit the same. It is averred that they have no knowledge regarding his vehicle on loan and any instalments of same being paid by him. All the allegations levelled by complainant are denied being wrong and incorrect with prayer to dismiss the complaint.

9                                              To prove his pleadings, complainant has brought our attention towards document Ex C-5 which is copy of computer generated folio showing status of account of complainant. It clearly reveals that account of complainant was freezed by OPs. Ex C-6 is copy of bank account statement of complainant for the period from 01.12.2018 to 15.02.2018 that clearly brings on record all the transactions occurred in the account of complainant. These transactions clearly reveal that on several dates complainant received payment from UBER India System Pvt Ltd which is a taxi service app and complainant is their approved driver. Ex C-7 also proves the pleadings of complainant that he runs a taxi for earning his livelihood and he took his vehicle on loan from Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services Ltd, Faridkot. He got insured his vehicle from New India Assurance Company Ltd and he has been paying instalments for the same. Ex C-2 is copy of legal notice served upon by complainant to OPs vide which he made requests to Ops to re-open his account as due to closure of his bank account, he has been unable to receive his income in the form of commission and fare charges from OLA Cab Company through NEFT and he has been suffering financial

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loss due to this act of Ops. Through his affidavit Ex C-1 complainant has reiterated his grievance and has made prayer for justice.

10                                             From the careful perusal of record it is observed that  Ld Counsel for OPs-1 and 2 admitted before the Forum that complainant is having account in their bank and it is also admitted that they have closed the bank account of complainant due to doubt that complainant is engaged in some kind of lottery or gambling business. But in the light of documents placed on record by complainant, there remains no doubt that he is not involved in any kind of lottery business, rather these documents reveal that complainant has been earning his livelihood by running a cab and his cab is registered with OLA Cab Company and he is providing safe taxi services to people on demand. Complainant is the approved driver of Ola Cab Company and runs his vehicle to earn bread and butter for his family and it does not come under the domain of commercial transaction.

 11                                             In the light of evidence and documents brought before the Forum and case law produced by ld counsel for complainant, it is observed that there is deficiency in service on the part of OP-1 and OP-2 in freezing the account of complainant merely on suspicion that he is involved in any kind of lottery business without checking the voracity and authenticity of documents produced by complainant in respect of his work with OLA Cab Company. Hence, complaint in hand is hereby allowed with direction to Ops to re-open the

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account of complainant in their OP-2 Bank. Ops are further ordered to pay Rs.3,000/- to complainant as consolidated compensation for harassment and mental agony suffered by him and as litigation expenses incurred by complainant on present case. Compliance of this order be made within one month of receipt of the copy of the order, failing which complainant shall be entitled to proceed under Section 25 and 27 of the Consumer Protection Act. Copy of the order be supplied to parties free of costs. File be consigned to record room.

Announced in open Forum

Dated: 16.12.2019

 

(Param Pal Kaur)                    (Ajit Aggarwal)

 Member                        President